


Moon

by ronniedae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Loss, Love, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 14:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16221344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronniedae/pseuds/ronniedae
Summary: Everytime Keith closes his eyes he sees the night sky. And the stars. And the moon.And Shiro.





	Moon

Moon  
(or; 3 times Keith climbs in bed with Shiro, and 1 time Shiro climbs in bed with Keith.)

The first night in the Castle of Lions finds Keith leaving his bed and padding across the hall to Shiro’s room; he’s awake, but he hardly stirs as Keith slips underneath the covers and presses himself to his chest.

“Hey.” He whispers.

The simple word causes Shiro to smile in the low light; the ship has gone dark after the days events, illuminated only by strands of blue light on the walls by their feet.

“Hey.” Shiro responds, as he shuffles himself to wrap his arm around Keith.

Keith stiffens, momentarily, at the cold metal making contact with his skin. He relaxes almost immediately, but Shiro still notices. 

“Sorry.” He says, voice still barely above a whisper. “I know it’s strange.” 

“No,” Keith insists. “It’s okay, just… new.”

The comment earns another smile. “All of this is pretty new.”

Keith sighs as he settles against Shiro, finally feeling his muscles relax. He’s spent the better part of the last year with his shoulders raised and his jaw clenched tight.

“I’m just happy I found you.”

Shiro hums in agreement. “Me too.”

He uses his free arm to draw circles on Keith’s shoulder. The castle lights dim slowly, then turn off altogether. Millenia of disuse leaves the castle humming and creaking underneath the Arusian night sky. The strange noises keep them wide awake and restless; the events of the last day spin round their minds. 

Eventually, the castle seems to settle, and so do they. Within seconds of each other, they fall in to an uneasy sleep which leaves them both tossing and turning.

The night does not last for long.

It’s Keith that wakes first. With a start that leaves him gasping for air. It takes him more than a few moments to recognise the room. He catches his breath and slides back down against Shiro’s side.

He’d been dreaming; he was back in the desert and Shiro was still lost in space. After all, it would be easy to believe considering that was the truth less than twenty-four hours ago. 

He calms his breathing and reminds himself of where he is, and realises that he’s been squeezing Shiro’s side. Abruptly, he lets go. 

“It’s alright.” Shiro mumbles.

“Hm?”

“It’s okay.” He stretches as he turns over. “I don’t mind. Did you have a bad dream?”

Shiro yawns and rubs his eyes before propping himself up against the pillow. Keith shuffles up against his chest.

“Yeah.” He mumbles. “I was back on Earth, you were still… lost.”

Shiro pulls him closer. “Well, we’re here together now, okay? And we’ll be home soon enough.” He promises. 

Keith turns away; and stretches; raising his arms up and over his head. His hand accidentally hits a nearly invisible panel on the wall. It beeps.

Hidden shutters whirr and rotate; a portion of the wall seems to disappear in an instant. The missing wall gives them sight of the vast Arus desert; they can barely make out the rolling hilltops and sand dunes underneath the starlight. 

It reveals constellations they don’t recognise and galaxies they’ve never heard of.

Then there’s the moon; this planet’s moon anyway. It shimmers incandescently in the brilliant night sky. It’s almost as orange as the planet.

Keith doesn’t even notice that they’ve been holding their breath until Shiro speaks.

“It’s strange.” Shiro murmurs, as if he’d been reading Keith’s thoughts. 

“Yeah.” 

A shiver runs down his spine as the moon glimmers in the night sky. 

“We’ll be home soon enough.” Shiro promises once more.

Keith isn’t sure he believes him. 

\------

A little over a year later, it’s Keith’s turn to utter promises he isn’t sure he can keep. He stands there in the doorway to Shiro’s room the night they rescue him once more. He leans against the frame, desperate to walk in but his feet can’t seem to agree with him. His hair has changed again; long and ragged. It reminds Keith of his failure.

The stars seem to fade as he drags himself back to his own room.

It takes him three nights to build up the courage to return and slip under the covers as he used to. Shiro welcomes him much the same; he shuffles, wraps his arm around him and offers a whispered “Hey.”

“Hey.” Keith returns as he squeezes himself closer against Shiro. 

Keith breathes; deep and long, the air he breathes in to his lungs strengthens him. Shiro raises his hand to meet his cheek; the simple act seems to break his resolve.

“I’m sorry.” His voice is barely above a whisper, but the simple words still seem ring in their ears and ricochet off the metal walls.

They’re followed by a choked sob, and repeated. “I’m sorry, Shiro, I’m so sorry.”

Shiro hushes him. “It’s okay, enough. You don’t need to apologise.”

Then, as suddenly as he started crying, Keith kisses him. It’s sloppy at first; misplaced and mixed with salty tears. It takes Shiro a minute to register the moment; then he reciprocates. 

The kiss deepens and their clothes seem to fall off; forgotten on the floor as they lose themselves in one another. 

The lights dim by themselves.

-

They’ve all had plenty of time to get used to the castle and it’s futuristic controls, so Keith doesn’t even have to look to press the button for the window. It opens in a flash; much less groaning and whirring than it used to have. 

The castle drifts through space; far away from any habitable planet. They are deep amongst the stars; closer than either of them could have ever imagined, and yet, they still seem light years away.

Pidge had told Keith that they’d be passing through a series of black holes and dying suns; partly to avoid detection, mostly so Shiro has the time to rest. Keith relays the information back to him; though the darkness tells him a similar story.

It looms in to view seemingly out of nowhere. It’s almost as if it has been placed to haunt them. A destroyed planet; no doubt on some Galran orders. 

It has two moons, one is shattered. 

They both stiffen at the sight of it; it reminds them of the war their fighting. And just like that, their stolen moment dissipates. A shiver runs down Keith’s spine as settles back down on Shiro’s chest; eyes still glued to the broken planet. 

They’re silent as the watch the bleak destruction slowly roll past the ship’s view. They shift almost uncomfortably against one another as the planet twirls; its centre of gravity knocked off by its demise. It shakes and twitches, like static on a screen, it leaves Keith pushing himself closer to Shiro. 

Shiro’s chest feels tense against Keith’s back.

“This is why we’re doing this.” Shiro says, answering the lost question from hours before. 

“This is why.” He repeats.

He seems to relax, and his sudden ease reminds Keith that he hasn't slept a full night. Still naked, they settle down against one another as Shiro leans up and closes the shutters; glancing once more at the broken planet before it’s sight is blocked.

It doesn’t take long for Keith to fall asleep, and Shiro is quick to follow.

-

The castle’s simulated morning comes long after Keith wakes. 

Shiro still slumbers as he opens the shutters once more. The broken planet has long since gone from view, and by now, the fluorescent lights are just bright enough that he’s able to slide from the sheets and dress without a sound.

He lingers for a moment too long in the doorway, and Shiro begins to stir as he finally makes his way down the hall to his own room. He’s quick to slip in to his Blades gear and make his way down to the launch pad.

He’s already in the next galaxy over by the time Shiro finally wakes to find his bed empty.

\------

Shiro finds himself overwhelmed with love and affection when he eventually awakes, hair blinding and brilliant white. Keith patiently rocks on the balls of his feet, waiting and desperate for everyone to return to their lions.

It’s late, by the time they do, and Krolia heads off with Hunk and Pidge in search of food. He takes Shiro, alone and staggering, back to the sleeping quarters of his lion. 

Keith is quick to settle in beside him. No words are spoken for what seems like half an eternity. The lion creaks and moans as it makes the aching journey through space. The fluorescent lights hum. Kosmo takes up space on the end of the bed and falls asleep with his head against their feet.

“I had no idea.” Keith finally breathes. 

The words leave him and his shoulders collapse; the weight of the guilt now makes the air around them heavy. 

“That’s ok-”

“-No.” Keith cuts him off. “It’s not.”

Keith can’t bear to meet Shiro’s eyes, and they both shuffle in the uncomfortable silence. 

“How could you have possibly known, Keith?” Shiro’s voice is so soft, it almost breaks. 

He raises his hand to meet the mark on Keith’s cheek. “How could you have known?” He repeats, though the words are stuttered.

Keith says nothing, though he can feel the tears brim in eyes ad the lump form in his throat. 

This time, it’s Shiro’s turn to apologise. “I’m sorry.” He says. The words seems to fall flat.

He lifts his thumb to the side of Keith’s face, and traces the mark down his neck to his collarbone. “I’m sorry.” He says, again.

Except this time, his voice cracks.

His bottom lip trembles, and then, he collapses entirely. Keith curls around him; cradling his head against his chest. “I’m sorry.” He repeats again. And again. And again. Until the words are falling from his lips, over and over, like shooting stars.

He screams, and he cries and Keith holds him, and strokes his hair as his strangled cries turn in to gentle sobs.

They lay almost still for what seems like half an eternity.

Keith absentmindedly plays with the top of Shiro’s shirt as they drift through the cosmos in near silence, tears long since dried. Once again, they find themselves in between discarded galaxies and collapsing supernovas. 

Krolia hadn’t long popped her head in to say that they were preparing food and there’d be a meeting to figure out their next steps. So once again, they drift through the cosmos. 

It’s slower this time; with no castle to take the brunt of the travel, their fates seem to lay among the stars. A small window provides them with starlight. 

Their food lay forgotten on the end of the bed; bodies and minds far too weary to eat. The meeting has been postponed until morning but neither of them can think about sleep. 

This corner of the universe is quiet; either too far from the grasps of the Empire or simply not worth destroying. 

Their gaze turns to the window; an automatic reflex from years spent stargazing.

As if echoing a moment from months before, a planet looms in to view. 

It’s new, they realise; still on the verge of existing. It fascinates them. It’s spinning so fast that they are practically able to watch it’s landscape form. This time too; it has two moons. They revolve around each other; borrowing parts from one another in order to form - they work in tandem. One would not exist without the other.

“Do you…” Keith stumbles as he turns his gaze from the window towards Shiro. “Do you have his memories?” He asks, a blush creeping over his cheeks.

“Yes.”

“Can you remember the other planet we saw?”

“Yes. And what I told you… still came from me. At least, it came from a part of me.”

“Yeah?” Keith asks as he moves to rub tears from his eyes. 

“Yeah.” Shiro says, before he echoes a past variation of himself. “And like I promised, we’ll be home soon enough.”

This time, Keith believes him.

\-----

Every time Keith closes his eyes, he sees the night sky. Each constellation is etched in to his eyelids, and the moon always flashes brilliantly; he could paint every star in the sky without ever opening them. 

It’s what gets him through the years and months and weeks spent in outer space.

-

When he first realised that he was in love with Shiro, the moon was full. Shiro had been gone for less than a year when his mission ‘failed’.

It took Keith less than a minute to get kicked out of the Garrison after hearing the news. He had slung what little belongings he had in to a rucksack, and Iverson watched as he sped off in to the desert on Shiro’s bike.

The sun had set behind his back on the way to the dusty shack. It had been empty for months with vague bits of evidence from their last visit still scattering the coffee table. 

He had walked out back, and climbed the small sand dune. 

There were no stars, as if the night sky were mourning. 

But the moon was full. 

-

There was no moon the night Shiro made it back to Earth. But this time; the night sky was full with stars. They almost served as a compass; lighting up the way to where Keith would find him.

The moment Shiro opens his eyes he tells him.

“I love you.” 

Shiro smiles.

“I love you too.”

-

Keith doesn’t tell him again until moments before the fight on Earth begins. They’re both geared up, ready to take flight and pilot their way to death or victory whichever would come first.

“I love you.” Keith says, moments before they depart. 

Neither of them acknowledge the weight that lifts of their shoulders.

“I love you too.” Shiro responds, and then they separate.

-

Every time Keith closes his eyes, he sees the night sky; but, the last thing he sees before his lion hits the Earth is Shiro. Then, there is nothing.

-

The moon; Earth’s moon, at last, trickles traces of light through Keith’s hospital room. His mother and Kolivan have long since said their goodbyes and left him to rest. 

It’s a little after midnight when his door creaks open. He looks up, only to catch sight of that familiar smile. Shiro is quick to close the door behind him and pad to the other side of the bed.

Keith hisses. “Why is your hand always so cold?”

Shiro says nothing, though Keith can sense him smiling. 

They lay together for a while in silence; letting the stars glimmer and the moon cast dancing shadows in the room.

“I love you.” He says for the third time.

“I love you too.” 

-

Everytime Keith closes his eyes he sees the night sky. And the stars. And the moon. 

And Shiro.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for a zine which has now unfortunately been cancelled! Hope you enjoyed :)


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